The Boatmen of Thessaloniki (; ) was a Bulgarian anarchist group, active in the Ottoman Empire in the years between 1898 and 1903."In 1898 a group named the Boatmen of Thessaloniki was formed and acted in the spirit of propaganda by the deed: the group's members, of Bulgaric origin, carried out deadly attacks against targets including the city's Ottoman bank, hotels, a theater, and light and gas pipes. Nearly all of the group's members were executed." Antonios Vradis and Dimitrios K. Dalakoglou, Anarchism, Greece in International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, Volume 8, Set: 1500 to the Present with Immanuel Ness as ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, , p. 126. "The Boatmen of Thessaloniki were an anarcho-nationalist, pan-Slavic influenced Bulgarian militant group, active in Θεσσαλονίκη (Thessaloniki) between 1898 and 1903." Nicholas Apoifis, Anarchy in Athens: An ethnography of militancy, emotions and violence, Manchester University Press, 2017, , p. 73. Giannēs Megas, The Boatmen of Thessaloniki: The Anarchist Bulgarian Group and the Bombing Actions of 1903, Athens: Trochalia , 1994, . The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire, Selcuk Aksin Somel, Scarecrow Press, 2010, , p. ixx. A History of the Ottoman Bank, Edhem Eldem, , Ottoman Bank Historical Research Center, 1999, pp. 239; 433. The Imperial Ottoman Bank in Salonica: the first 25 years, 1864-1890, John Karatzoglou, Ottoman Bank Archives & Research Centre, 2003, , p. 9. İlkay Yılmaz, Propaganda by the Deed and Hotel Registration Regulations in the Late Ottoman Empire, Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 142, . The members of the group were predominantly Macedonian Bulgarians from Veles and most of them − young graduates from the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki.Post-Cosmopolitan Cities: Explorations of Urban Coexistence, Caroline Humphrey, Vera Skvirskaja, Berghahn Books, 2012, , p. 213. The group was radicalized by the Bulgarian anarchist Slavi Merdzhanov, whose initial target was the Ottoman capital Constantinople, and subsequently Adrianople.Mercia MacDermott, Freedom Or Death, the Life of Gotsé Delchev, Journeyman Press, 1978; , pp. 304–306; 350–356.Georg Brandes, Human Rights and Oppressed Peoples: Collected Essays and Speeches; Editor William Banks; University of Wisconsin Pres, 2020, , p. 97. After his execution by the Ottomans in 1901, the group's attention shifted to Thessaloniki (then known in English as Salonika).Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia; Historical Dictionaries of Europe, second edition, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, , p. 124. From April 28 until May 1, 1903, the group led a campaign of terror bombing in Thessaloniki.Iakovos D. Michailidis, From Christians to Members of an Ethnic Community: Creating borders in the city of Thessaloniki, in Luďa Klusáková and Laure Teulières (eds.), Frontiers and identities: cities in regions and nations, PLUS-Pisa University Press, 2008, p. 174. Their aim was to attract the attention of the Great Powers to Ottoman oppression in Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace.Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, , p. 82; 198. The group's roots can be traced to 1898 in Geneva, and nearly all of its founders were natives from Bulgaria.Дончо Даскалов, Анархизмът в България, Унив. изд-во "Св. Климент Охридски", 1995, ; стр. 34–36. Doncho Daskalov, Anarchism in Bulgaria, St. Kliment Ohridski Univ. Publishing House ; pp. 34–36. It was associated with the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization,"In April 1903 there was a campaign of bombing in Thessaloniki undertaken by anarchist Bulgarian students associated with IMRO. The bombing was followed by a generalized peasant uprising among the Christians of Macedonia." For more see: Costas Lapavitsas, Pinar Cakiroglu; Capitalism in the Ottoman Balkans: Industrialisation and Modernity in Macedonia, The Ottoman Empire and the World; Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019; , p. 252. but also had close ties with the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee.Duncan M. Perry, The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893-1903; Duke University Press, 1988; , p. 101. The result of the bombings was disastrous for the Bulgarian community in Thessaloniki."According to information from Bulgarian commercial agent Atanas Shopov, the authorities killed more than a hundred people and arrested more than three hundred. These included all principals and teachers in the Bulgarian schools, four priests, 25 members of Bulgarian commercial families, 52 wealthy entrepreneurs, and many members of the artisan guilds. Most of these people had no connection with the Gemidzhii or the IMARO." For more see: Dimitris Keridis and John Brady Kiesling as ed., Thessaloniki: A City in Transition, 1912–2012; Routledge, 2020; , Dimitris Keridis, Introduction. Continuation of the Thessaloniki bombings were the bombing of the passenger train near Kuleliburgaz and the bombing campaign of the passenger ship "Vaskapu" in the Burgas Bay.
Origins and etymology
The group draws its roots from the Bulgarian anarchist movement which grew in the 1890s, and the territory of Principality of Bulgaria became a staging-point for anarchist activities against the Ottomans, particularly in support of Macedonian and Thracian liberation movements.Ryan Robert Mitchell, Anarchism in Bulgaria in The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, , DOI: 10.1111/b.9781405184649.2009.01759.x . The Boatmen of Thessaloniki was descended from a group founded in 1895 in Plovdiv and called "Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee", which was developed in 1898 in Geneva into a secret, anarchistic, brotherhood called "Geneva group". Its activists were the students Mihail Gerdzhikov, Petar Mandzhukov and Slavi Merdzhanov. They were influenced by the anarcho-nationalism, which emerged in Europe, following the French Revolution, going back at least to Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin and his involvement with the Pan-Slavic movement. The anarchists in the so-called "Geneva group" of students played key roles in the anti-Ottoman struggles. Nearly all of the members who founded the Committee in Geneva were natives from Bulgaria. Despite being of non-Macedonian descent, they espoused supranational Macedonian identity, emancipated from the pan-Bulgarian national project.We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe, Diana Mishkova, Central European University Press, 2009, , pp. 123–124. Their motto was: No gods, no masters.Павел Шатев, В Македония под робство: солунското съзаклятие (1903 г.), подготовка и изпълнение. Изд-во на Отечествения фронт, 1983, стр. 66.Михаил Герджиков: спомени, документи, материали, Наука и изкуство, 1984, стр. 71. The group established relations with Russian émigré circles, thus being close to followers of Bakunin. It also communicated with other anarchist circles through Geneva.
In 1899, Merdzhanov moved to the Bulgarian school in Thessaloniki, where he worked as teacher and sparked some of the graduates with anarchist ideas. In 1900, Petar Mandzhukov also resided in Thessaloniki, where had a contact with the Gemidzii and they were influenced by his anarchist ideas, especially those relating to methods of terrorist struggle. The first meetings of the group took part in 1899 with the purpose of forming a revolutionary terrorist group with aim of changing international public opinion in the matter of the freedom of Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace through urging the social conscience of the oppressed.Петдесет 50-те най-големи атентата в българската история, Крум Благов, Репортер, 2000, стр. 21. The group is found in published works with several names: "The boatmen of Thessaloniki", the "Crew",James Sotros, The Greek Speaking Anarchist and Revolutionary Movement (1830–1940) Writings for a History, No God-No Masters, 2004, p. 191. or the "Gemitzides", form of the Ottoman word for "boatman". At their start, they had a different name, the "Troublemakers", gürültücü.Giannēs Megas, The Boatmen of Thessaloniki: The Anarchist Bulgarian Group and the Bombing Actions of 1903, Athens: Trochalia , 1994, , p. 52. The name "boatmen" was due to "leaving behind the everyday life and the limits of law and sail with a boat in the free and wild seas of lawlessness." Their new slogan became "we will spend ourselves", i.e. we will die in the name of the freedom of the people....Бяхме решили да извършим нещо, против тираните на нашия народ, в което да изгорим. Девизът ни бе "ке се арчиме", т.е. ще умрем в името на свободата на народа. Затова няма смисъл да се учим, да се обличаме, да мислим за лично благополучие. Често бягахме от училище и ходехме на морето да се къпем или да зяпаме. Завършихме седми клас, но на матура не се явихме, понеже "ке се арчиме". Тази фрази ни беше винаги на устата. Иначе бяхме силни ученици, любознателни, но не намирахме смисъл в учението. Бягахме често от училище, скитахме покрай морето, вземахме лодки и малки гемии, влизахме с тях в морето, или пък помагахме на гемиджиите, когато изкарваха гемиите на сухо, за да ги поправят. Постепенно добихме прозвището "гeмиджиите". Така възприехме това име... (In English: ...We had decided to do something against the tyrants of our people, in which we would burn. Our motto was "we will spend ourselves", i.e. we will die for the freedom of the people. Therefore, it made no sense to study, to dress, to think about personal well-being. We often ran away from school and went to the sea to bathe or stare. We finished the seventh grade, but we didn't show up for graduation, because "we will spend ourselves". This phrase was always on our lips. Otherwise, we were good students, inquisitive, but we did not find meaning in learning. We often ran away from school, wandered along the sea, took boats and small ships, went into the sea with them, or helped the boatmen when they took the ships ashore to repair them. Gradually we got the nickname "Gemidzhii". That's how we came up with this name...) For more see: Тодор Органджиев, "За Солунското съзаклятие", спомени в сборник "50 години от Илинденското въстание", София, 1953 година,стр. 126-124. (in Bulgarian).Младежите искали да осмислят своя живот в тази борба, като умрат в името на свободата на народа. Те си служили с думите: „Ке се арчиме” в смисъл, че ще се пожертвуват за свободата на народа. (In English: The youth wanted to give meaning to their lives in this struggle by dying in the name of the people's freedom. They served each other with the words: "We will spend ourselves" in the sense that they will sacrifice themselves for the freedom of the people.) For more see: Илинденско-Преображенското въстание 1903—1968, Отг. редактори: Дино Кьосев и Ламби Данаилов. Редактори на спомените: Йордан Анастасов, Тодор Браянов и Илия Славков. (Издателство на Националния съвет на Отечествения фронт, София, 1968 г.), 2. Божидар Д. Божиков - Въстанието в Битолски революционен окръг, стp. 25.
Attack plans and actions in Constantinople